My First Voting Experience

My first "I voted" sticker!

       Me, like most people my age, had the opportunity to vote for the very first time last Tuesday. Our generation like those before us had the chance to experience the right to vote and the pride we feel after knowing that we are doing our duty to our country. For me this election was a bit of an eye opener. Perhaps it was noticed, but this year social media was a rather large influence on many of the young voters in America. Candidates, supporters, and other media outlets were able to voice their opinions and project their campaigns to billions of users via twitter, facebook, and various other forms of social media. On my newsfeeds and twitter feeds, like those of millions of others, I experienced what I call the “campaign fever”. Regardless of political party, each side openly displayed their opinions over the internet and it got a little intense, even to the point where people’s feelings were getting hurt. I personally stayed out of the political debates on twitter and facebook and decided to conduct my research on more factual websites and by watching the news, something I wish more of my friends would have partaken in.

For me my first time voting was exciting, I’ll admit I was even slightly nervous waiting in line at the church for my chance to vote. It wasn’t what I expected, I didn’t know it would be touch-screen and computerized, however I suppose I should have guessed that it would be. All in all it was an interesting experience, not just the voting process but seeing how people acted on social media leading up to the election, and the night of, and even still today people who are upset with the turn out. Personally I believe that regardless of political party the last thing we need to be doing is fighting amongst ourselves, and especially moving into the future we should be proud of our country and its leaders and excited about the direction we are headed together.